Introduction
Welcome back to Maledicturs Terra. This is a Chain Story between myself and @lex-zaiya, meaning that we each write the parts alternatively.
If you have not read Maledictus Terra Book 1: Mortis Custos yet, it starts HERE at Part 1 and ends at Part 101 HERE. At the end of the Part 101 post you will find links to all 101 Parts!
Maledictus Terra Book 2: Sanguifex started HERE with Part 1 and ends at Part 111 HERE
The previous part by @lex-zaiya can be found HERE.
I am however, going to leave it to @lex-zaiya to continue with the previous scene and do a perspective change for this installment.
Part 26
He was walking through the castle. Only, he knew he could not have been there. He had gone to sleep in the tent inside the Orc encampment.
"So I must be dreaming." Adrian said to himself and scrutinized the nearby wall hanging and wall beside it. It touched the fabric and looked at the design. It was perfect and solid. The texture is something that he explored and investigated closely.
"This also cannot be a normal dream." He concluded.
"Are you speaking to yourself?" A figure said that was standing in the hallway. Small, a child perhaps and barefoot. The hour was late and the hallway was dimly lit. He walked toward the child to get a better look. It was a boy.
"I didn't know that I was not alone." Adrian said gently and came to stop in front of the child. He tried to think who was this age in the castle and who might have children who might have been allowed to wander into this hallway without a guard stopping them.
"Are you meant to be here?" The boy asked.
"I was about to ask you the same thing." Adrian said.
"Well of course I am supposed to be here. My bedroom is down that way." The boy pointed down the hallway. Adrian looked over his shoulder. It was the direction that he would have been taken to go to his own room.
Adrian stared at the boy. Is this me? "Well, I seem to be in the right place, but perhaps not in the right time."
"What does that mean?"
"Is your sister sleeping?"
"I don't have a sister!" The boy said angrily. "I have a brother and he is older than me, but I am the crown prince! Now if you don't tell me who you are, I shall call for father's guards!"
Adrian's eye widened. "Are you... Prince Johnathan?"
"Of course. You are in the castle and you needed to ask that?"
"Sorry. I was confused. Is your brother Adiran awake? I am his friend and I need to see him."
At the mention of the name, the boy relaxed visibly. "Yeah, he is always awake late. He doesn't sleep much. He is usually reading. Come. He is this way."
The boy led Adrian down towards the royal suite, they passed a point in the castle there would have been guards posted in more modern times. Perhaps they had a guard detail situated elsewhere or there were less threats in those days.
They reached the door to what would be Magna's room one day. Johnathan knocked on it softly so the sound would not echo down the hallway. There was a brief pause and the door cracked open. "Johnathan, you should be in bed!" The boy was only a little older than the Prince.
"I know, I found your friend. He was looking for you."
The elder boy opened the door a bit further and opened the door further. "What friend?" As is eyes landed on Adrian his shock was apparent. Adrian grinned at Adiran and waved his hand. There had been a moment that Adrian thought that the boy might have reached for some sort of weapon.
"Hello Uncle." Adrian said.
"Uncle?" Johnathan asked. "But he is younger than you!"
"It's just a name my sister and I have for Adiran." Adrian said.
"Oh."
Young Adiran frowned and rubbed his face. "Right. Johnathan. Thank you for bringing my friend. You should go to bed before someone catches you! Go on!"
"Ok ok, bye!"
Adrian watched wistfully as he watched his father toddle off on little legs to where his own bedroom would one day be. His smile faded and he walked into the other boy's room.
Adiran was staring at him as he entered and the boy closed the door softly. He then reached into a sleeve and brought out a powder which he flicked into the air and touched with an index finger. The dust ignited into a bright orange and formed a symbol in the air before fading.
Adiran's face was set in shock and he sat down heavily on his desk chair. "How are you here Adrian? You are from THIS timeline. You... must know who I am... going to be... Gods... this is confusing - even for me and I have hopped timelines before!"
"I know you have and I have no idea why I am here or HOW I got here... I am busy sleeping. I thought this was a dream."
"Am I dead in your time?"
"No. But you aren't nearby. Magna did not ask for your to join us on our..."
"No! Don't tell me! If this is a temporal flux then the less I know the less I shall be thinking about whether or not this all lines up!"
"Right. Well... I can't say I can see a point to me being here. I did not intend to come here and you did not bring me here... So why am I here?"
The young Adiran shrugged. "No idea. You are decades early and I usually use this time to study and learn about this timeline and hone my magical skills."
"All the while hiding from grandfather's High Mage." Adrian said. "The one from my time was middle aged so I am guessing there must be someone else that you were hiding from in this time?"
"Actually that position has been vacant for a little while now. Father... your grandfather has yet to appoint a new High Mage or hire new mages."
"What? Are there none in the castle right now?" Adrian asked. "That is why you were using that spell without concern."
"I am sure that this event would have taught to you in the future as a matter of history! It was a crisis!" Adiran said angrily.
"Or it was covered up! What happened?" Adrian demanded. "This is it. This is what I was meant to find! I am certain."
Young Adiran rubbed his chin. "Perhaps. But it does not really make sense to me. It did not seem to me that it should be something that I was meant to take note of when it happened. But it was a crisis for grandfather."
"Alright. Let's suppose it was or it wasn't, tell me anyway. I will keep it to myself if it is useful information."
Adiran nodded. "Fine. There are no mages in the castle at this time. The High Mage lost his position after there had been an explosion in the castle, all the lesser Mages died. The High Mage had been conducting some sort of experiment at the time."
"Right. Seems like it could have been an accident and then the High Mage was ultimately responsible for the actions of his underlings."
Young Adiran nodded. "Grandfather was furious and had charged the High Mage with treason for some reason. Gross incompetence. He had ordered that the High Mage be executed. But the day that the execution was meant to take place, a party of robed men arrived and spoke to grandfather who then proclaimed the High Mage banished."
Adrian nodded. He realized that should he really be speaking the the real Adiran from his past that he should not tell him anything that he did not need to know.
"These robed men... were there a lot of them? Was there a specific number?"
"I saw them from the castle walls but I did not count them. More than ten, less than twenty." Adiran said. "Is that important?"
Adrian shrugged. "Have you got Rhys yet?"
"Who?"
"Did you not have him in other times too?"
"Who is Rhys?"
Adrian shrugged. "I suppose that I should leave it at that. But he is going to be important. You went to some desert to retrieve an egg, or so you told me... will tell me... one day."
"You are vague."
"I know. I am trying to be tactful."
"No. I mean you are disappearing."
Adrian looked down at his body and saw that there was a transparency to it. "I suppose that I might be waking up then. See you soon Adiran."
Adrian felt as though he was blinking but when his eyes opened then instantly his perception of weight and orientation changed and he was laying, looking up at the ceiling of the tent.
He groaned. He did not feel like he had slept at all.
You're up again @lex-zaiya!
Thank you for reading!
Here is an explanation of Chain Stories and here is the current Chainstory Library
Vetitum Nemus
| by @zakludick | by @lex-zaiya |
|---|---|
| ---- | Part 1 |
| Part 2 | Part 3 |
| Part 4 | Part 5 |
| Part 6 | Part 7 |
| Part 8 | Part 9 |
| Part 10 | Part 11 |
| Part 12 | Part 13 |
| Part 14 | Part 15 |
| Part 16 | Part 17 |
| Part 18 | Part 19 |
| Part 20 | Part 21 |
| Part 22 | Part 23 |
| Book 24 | Book 25 |
| You are here! | Coming soon! |
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